USA > California > Glenn County > History of Colusa and Glenn counties, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the counties who have been identified with their growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 30
USA > California > Colusa County > History of Colusa and Glenn counties, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the counties who have been identified with their growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 30
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Mrs. French was reared and educated in California. On May 14, 1874, she became the wife of Milton French; and since that date she has been a resident of Glenn County. Three children were born to brighten the already happy home of Mr. and Mrs. French. Curry Milton, the only son, is a landowner in his own
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right, and is manager of the great ranches and interests left by his father. He married Miss Lulu Louise Jacoby. Rita is the wife of Judge Frank Moody, of Willows. Natalie is the widow of Robert E. L. Eagle, and makes her home with her mother. Mrs. French is an active member of the Baptist Church, which Mr. French also attended, and to which he was a liberal contributor, as he was like- wise to all other denominations, as well as to every worthy object that was brought to his attention.
WILLIAM HENRY WILLIAMS
Few men were more widely known or more highly honored than this California pioneer of 1850, who was the founder of the town in Colnsa County that bears his name. W. H. Williams came to this section in 1853, and, possessing a keen foresight, made extensive investments in land when it was held at only a nominal price. He also began in the sheep business, which in time grew to large proportions, and which was admirably adapted to bring prosperity to its followers during the early period of California history. Laying the foundation of his fortune by industry and intelligent application, he enjoyed an increasing success and accumulated sufficient means to enable him to retire, and to give him a recognized standing among the successful and wealthy men of the Sacramento Valley.
Especial interest attaches to the life history of one so sne- cessful and so prominent in the annals of his county. Genealogy shows that the progenitor of the family in America was Robert Williams of Wales, who established his home on a plantation in Maryland. A son and namesake of the original immigrant, born and reared in Maryland, learned the trade of the shoemaker, and in 1828, together with his family, and with his household goods packed in a wagon, crossed the Alleghany mountains into Ohio and settled in Pickaway County. Ten and one half years later he took his family to Illinois and settled in Vermont, Fulton County, where he died in 1853. He was married twice, and chose for his second wife Margaret McCallister. She was born in Maryland, and died in Ohio on February 2, 1848. Of their four sons and five daughters, W. II. Williams was the seventh in order of birth, and the only one to settle in California; and he was the last of the family.
William H. Williams was born in Cumberland, Md., April 7, 1828. He was taken to Ohio when a babe in arms, and when eleven accompanied the family to Illinois, where he attended the
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village school at Vermont. The schoolhouse was built of logs, with benches of slabs and floor of puncheon; and the pens were made of quills. However, notwithstanding these handicaps and the irregular attendance necessitated on account of his being needed to help till the farm, Mr. Williams acquired a good education. With a hopeful spirit, he endeavored, by self-culture, to make the most of his environments; and he became in time a well- informed man. He learned the shoemaker's trade with a brother during the winter months, and cared for the stock and raised corn in summer. When the news came of the discovery of gold in California, he dissolved his partnership with his brother and started out alone to make his way amid untried conditions. He left the old Illinois home on March 18, 1850, and with three com- panions started West in a wagon drawn by four yoke of oxen. They crossed the Mississippi River at Quincy, and the Missouri at St. Joseph; followed the overland trail by way of Forts Kear- ney and Laramie; and proceeding up the Sweetwater and down the Humboldt River, went thence by the Carson route into Cali- fornia, arriving at Placerville on August 1, after being on the road just ninety-six days. During their trip they made it a rule to rest Sundays. When their oxen gave out they left them and, having cooked enough provisions to carry them over the moun- tains, started to walk with their blankets and supplies, getting across in six days.
Mr. Williams spent four months in mining, and only made seventy dollars; so he abandoned the work and went to Sacra- mento. Here he was engaged as a cook in a hotel at seventy-five dollars a month, and later became a clerk in a shoe store at one hundred dollars a month. His next move took him into Solano County, where, near Suisun, he was employed for a time in mowing hay with a scythe. He then hired out as a teamster, and later bought a team and engaged in freighting on his own account, clearing two hundred eight dollars per month. In the fall of 1853 he sold the team, and, going to Sacramento, opened a board- ing house, which he conducted for six months, until the town was burned and drowned out. He next took up land in Spring Valley, and raised stock and farmed for one year, after which he began farming on the plains near the present site of the town of Wil- liams. When the land came into the market, in 1858, he bought a small place at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, and to this he added from time to time until his possessions assumed large proportions. He bought fine blooded sheep from the East and made a specialty of raising bucks, being a pioneer in that industry.
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When the railroad was prospected for the valley, Mr. Williams gave the right of way through his land and an interest in two hundred acres, which induced the company to establish a station at Central. When the town was laid out, it was named Williams in his honor; and ever since it has been an important shipping point. In 1874 Mr. Williams built a substantial brick building; in 1876 he erected the Williams Hotel; and in 1880 he put up a warehouse one hundred twenty-one by two hundred feet in dimen- sions, so constructed that teams can drive through the building and unload, as well as from the west side. In the latter part of the seventies, with others, at a cost of fifty-six thousand dollars, he built the steamer Enterprise, and a barge, to run from Colusa to San Francisco. He owned two livery stables in the town, and nine thousand acres of land near by, and was interested in the steam flouring mill until it was destroyed by fire. The Williams Foundry also received his attention and support; and with others he built the Odd Fellows Hall. He was one of the charter mem- bers of the Odd Fellows Lodge.
During the administration of President Lincoln, Mr. Williams was appointed postmaster of the old office at Central; and the office continued to be in his house until the railroad was built. After the organization of the Republican party, he was a stanch supporter of its men and measures, and frequently was a delegate to state and county conventions. Though not a member of any church, all the churches received his financial support.
Of the first marriage of Mr. Williams three children were born, as follows: Mrs. Harriett May Moody; Lulu, wife of S. H. Callen; and Ella, Mrs. H. W. Manor-all of this locality. His second marriage united him with Mary E. McEvoy, a native of Dublin, Ireland, and daughter of Thomas and Anna (Horace) MeEvoy. She came to California in 1877, and in 1880 was mar- ried to Mr. Williams. Her deepest bereavement until her devoted husband passed away on May 15, 1909, was the death of four of her children: Iris Cecelia and Inez Vashti (twins), Carmelita Lucile, and William H., Jr. Two are still living: Belle, Mrs. Stanley Moore, of Oakland; and Maurguerita, Mrs. R. L. Welch, of Colusa.
Personally, Mr. Williams was a large, stalwart, handsome gentleman of genial, companionable disposition, with a jovial temperament that enabled him to see the bright side even of life's shadows, and that won him the friendship of acquaintances. When he died, the whole county mourned. In the annals of Colusa County, his name is worthy of perpetuation, for the emulation of the future generations who shall live and labor here.
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JEFFERSON DAVIS CRANE
How a town, of sturdy, thriving burghers honored itself in electing as mayor its pioneer blacksmith, is shown in the story of Willows and its choice of Jefferson Davis Crane as presiding officer and chief executive. Jefferson D. Crane was born in Sonoma County, September 7, 1861. His father, who crossed the plains to California in 1849 in one of the conventional ox-team trains, was James E. Crane, a native of Kentucky; while his mother, whose maiden name was Lucy M. Beaver, was a native of Ohio and came to California in 1851. On his arrival in this state, James E. Crane went to the mines for a time. Later he farmed near Santa Rosa, and afterwards near Salinas, in Monterey County. In 1870 he came to Los Angeles County, in what is now known as Orange County. There he died, aged seventy-six years.
Brought to Los Angeles County in his boyhood, Jefferson D. Crane attended the public schools there, and then went to Bakersfield, where he learned the trade of the blacksmith. He blew the bellows and swung the hammers like the ablest of those at the forge; and by 1880 he was ready to set up his shop in Bakers- field, where he continued as a smith for four years. He then moved to San Luis Obispo County, and for a year worked as a blacksmith there. In 1885 he arrived at Willows. Here be became associated with the Willows Fonndry, with which he continued for some time. In 1895, he opened up a blacksmith's shop of his own, and this he conducted for three years. At the end of that time he took into partnership C. S. Schmidt, whereupon the firm became known as Crane & Schmidt. Ever since, Mr. Crane has had a hand in the manufacture of nearly all the iron and steel work done in Willows.
In 1887, Jefferson Davis Crane was married to Miss Kate Somers, a native of Placer County, and the daughter of Charles R. Somers, a pioneer who came to California from Vermont, by way of the Isthmus, in 1854. Mr. Somers farmed on two ranches in Placer County, and in 1871 removed to Willows, where he bought a hundred sixty acres of land, on a part of which the southerly end of Willows now stands. While he farmed, he also conducted a draying business. For thirty-five years he hanled freight for Hochheimer & Co., in Willows. He died in 1908. His wife's maiden name was Mary E. Cameron. She was a native of Illinois, who crossed the plains in 1854 with an uncle. She saw Willows grow from a wilderness to a prosperons community, with a population of twenty-four hundred; and she can remember when
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the antelope and wild cattle roamed over the plains. Mrs. Crane died in June, 1916, mourned by a large circle of friends, with whom she was a social favorite. She is survived by a daughter, Pearl C., Mrs. Terry McCaffrey, of McCloud, Cal., who is the mother of one daughter, Tyrel.
Mr. Crane's public-spiritedness is finely displayed in his record of twenty-one years as clerk of the Willows school board, from which office he resigned in 1917; and in his service as town trustee, to which he was elected in 1910. For four years he filled the latter office; and from 1912 to 1914 he was chairman of the town board, and thus performed the duties of acting mayor. During this period the City Hall was built, sewers were laid, and the fire department was improved by the accession of a modern motor fire engine, the first combination pump and chemical engine on the coast. Mr. Crane is a member of the Odd Fellows, a Woodman of the World, an Elk, and a charter member of the Rebekahs.
JAMES BOYD
A man who has risen from a subordinate position to that of an influential landowner, and who is actively identified with the agricultural interests of the county, is James Boyd, a native of County Down, born near Belfast, Ireland, February 28, 1849. His father was also named James, and was born at the same place. Here, also, Hugh Boyd, the grandfather, was a well-to-do farmer, a descendant of Scotch ancestors who fled from Scotland to the North of Ireland at the time of the persecution of the Covenant- ers. James Boyd, Sr., was also a farmer by occupation. He mar- ried Eliza Patton, of Scotch descent, a daughter of John Patton. She died at the age of forty-nine, in 1857, leaving eleven children, of whom James, Jr., was the fourth youngest. The father reared his family and lived to the age of eighty-four.
James Boyd, of this review, was educated in the common schools of his native county and early learned the methods of farming as it was carried on there. He had heard good reports from California, and had made up his mind that he would prospect the country for himself; and accordingly he crossed the ocean to New York when he was nineteen, in 1868. He came on to Cali- fornia by way of Panama, arriving in San Francisco on board the steamship Sacramento in May of that year. He traveled on to Yolo County, and then to Colusa, where he worked in a livery stable for a month. He then came on to what is now Glenn County, and found employment on the Patrick O'Brien ranch for
tamer /Boya. Jam
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four years. Having made a little money, Mr. Boyd was willing to take a chance, and with a friend bought a flock of sheep in 1873, and drove them to Nevada, where he was engaged in the sheep business for one year, when he sold out and returned to Willows. He leased the Murdock ranch of nearly five thousand acres, and for nine years raised grain. Next he rented eight thousand acres of the Glide ranch, and continued the grain business for another similar period, becoming in time one of the largest grain raisers in this part of the Sacramento Valley.
Having made considerable money, and also saved some, Mr. Boyd began to look about for land. He found and purchased a quarter section, to which he added four hundred eighty acres, and then twelve hundred acres; and still later he bought an entire sec- tion. He now owns some twenty-eight hundred acres three miles west from Willows. He erected a fine home and the usual barns and outbuildings, and now has one of the best ranches in Glenn County. On this place he has lived since 1899. Besides the home ranch he owns twelve hundred acres on the Sacramento River, near Butte City, the latter being rented, while the home ranch is devoted to grain-raising and is operated by Mr. Boyd and his two sons, who raise some fourteen hundred acres of grain on the place each year, using the latest models of machinery and implements.
In 1889, Mr. Boyd married Miss Clara M. Williams, of Dixon, Cal., a daughter of Nathanial P. and Sarah Jane (Rice) Williams. She was but three months old when her parents came to California by way of Panama. She is a niece of the late Hon. Henry E. Mc- Cune, prominent in public life in the state and for many years a resident of Solano County. Two children have been born of this marriage: James Boyd, Jr., who married Genevieve Nash and is the father of one son, James Boyd, third; and Carleton Williams Boyd, who married Miss Bruce Morgan, of Red Bluff, and is the father of a son, Carleton Wilcox. Both sons have had a col- lege education, and are well equipped for life's responsibilities.
Mr. Boyd is prominent in financial affairs as a director of the Bank of Willows, and as a stockholder in the First National Bank of Willows, the Bank of Colusa, the Bank of Princeton, and the Willows Warehouse Association. He served as supervisor of his district one term, being elected on the Democratic ticket. In fra- ternal circles he is a Mason, a member of Laurel Lodge No. 245, F. & A. M .; the Colusa Chapter and Commandery; and Islam Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of San Francisco.
Mr. Boyd is a man of commanding appearance, six feet, six and one quarter inches in height, a giant in stature; and in the early days there were few men that surpassed him in strength and activity. With all his vitality, energy and ambition, it is no won-
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der that he was able to win success and accomplish the results that have characterized his career. He landed in this state with only about one hundred dollars; but it did not take him long to see the opportunities offered by this fertile country. Capitalizing his nat- ural inheritance of thrift and foresight from his Scotch ancestry, he began investing in lands when they were cheap; and being ben- efited by the rise in values, he has been enabled to live in comfort in his latter years. Both he and his wife have endeared them- selves to their friends, who are legion. They are public-spirited, and are willing at all times to assist. those less fortunate than themselves.
HARRISON DARROUGH DEGAA
Born and educated in the Old World, Harrison D. DeGaa came to America, as a young man, well equipped to take advan- tage of the opportunities which the New World afforded, to forge rapidly ahead in business, and to render valuable service in the building up and developing of the communities in which he has lived. Harrison DeGaa was born in Paris, France, May 6, 1843. His parents were Joseph J. and Katherin (Wimmer) DeGaa, the former of French birth, and the latter a member of a prominent German family of the city of Karlsruhe. They were married in 1838, and in the following year came to America, settling in Ohio. In 1848, the year of the German Rebellion, they returned to Ger- many on a visit, and Mr. DeGaa took part in the Rebellion. He became an officer, holding a commission as Colonel, and in com- pany with Carl Schurz, General Siegel and others, had to flee the country. Later he was arrested by the German government and tried for treason; but in the meantime he had become an American citizen, and through the intervention of the home government gained his freedom.
Harrison D. DeGaa began his education in the schools of France, attending there until the age of twelve, when he was sent to Baden-Baden, Germany. At the age of sixteen he entered the University of Heidelberg, from which he graduated in 1864. He at once left for America, where his parents had been residing dur- ing his attendance at school.
After spending two years in the East and South, Mr. DeGaa came to California, making the journey by way of the Isthmus. He at first engaged in mining, but soon left that occupation and took up the printer's trade, some knowledge of which he had obtained at school. He has since followed this business in its various branches, nntil at the present time he is the editor and
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proprietor of the Glenn Transcript, published at Willows, Cal., and established in 1902.
At North San Juan, Nevada County, Mr. DeGaa was united in marriage, on November 24, 1889, with Miss Anna G. Smith, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Golden Smith. Their four children are Joseph Darrongh, Victor Golden, Hallet, and a married daughter, Mrs. W. J. Canfield.
Ever since coming to California Mr. DeGaa has been promi- nently identified with its growth and promotion. For the past quarter of a century he has held office as president or secretary of chambers of commerce and kindred associations. He was the second president of the Glenn Club, and later became its fourth president. He is today its only honorary member. He is the president of the E. Clampus Vitus-an organization of boosters, with a membership of over four hundred. He has always been active in the Republican party, and has been influential in its councils. In religion he is an Episcopalian.
MRS. MARY NEWMAN
A resident of California since 1870, and a woman of more than ordinary business ability, Mrs. Mary Newman has contrib- uted in no small degree to the upbuilding of the town of Willows. Mrs. Newman was born at Hull, Wright County, in the Province of Quebec, Canada. Her father, John Cook, was born in London, England, and came to Canada when a young man, where he married Georgianna Rule, who was born in Prince Edward Island. They became successful farmers at Hull, about seven miles from Ottawa, and resided there until their death. Of their eight chil- dren, five are living, Mrs. Newman being the eldest and the only one in California. Her childhood was spent on the home farm and in the pursuit of her studies in the subscription or private schools. About fifty years ago she was married at Aylmer, Can- ada, to John McCallum, who was born at Guleburn, Ontario, the son of Duncan and Ellen (Sloane) McCallum, natives of Scotland and the North of Ireland respectively. His parents migrated to Canada and were farmers at Guleburn. John McCallum followed farming, but later sold his outfit and engaged in the hotel busi- ness at North Wakefield.
About 1870, Mr. and Mrs. McCallumi came to California. After their arrival in this state, Mr. McCallum followed mining at Smartsville, Yuba County, until his death a few years later, which resulted from an attack of brain fever. Mrs. McCallum,
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left with a family of children, proved equal to the emergency, and immediately set about to make a living for the family, and rear and educate her children. She engaged in the hotel business at Smartsville, in which she met with success. While thus engaged, she was again married, to John Mee, a native of the North of Ireland, who followed mining at Smartsville. In 1882, the family moved to Willows, then but a small burg. Here she leased a large residence and ran it as a boarding house for five years. It was about one year after locating here that Mr. Mee passed away. At the end of five years, Mrs. Mee purchased a residence on Shasta Street ; but after residing there from August until the following June, she again decided to engage in the hotel business and leased a hotel building on Tehama Street, which she named the Palace Hotel. Here she conducted a successful busi -. ness, giving such good service that the hotel became very popular.
In February, 1894, Mrs. Mee was united in marriage with Charles Newman. Mr. Newman was born in Germany, and came to California when sixteen years of age. He learned the mer- chant's business, and became owner of a store at Rocklin, Cal. Later he sold out and came to Willows, where he was one of the pioneer merchants, and where he served as postmaster for several years. Mr. Newman built the Palace Hotel, the Newman Building, and other buildings in Willows. After selling out his store here, he lived retired till his death, which occurred in December, 1913. Fraternally, Mr. Newman was a Mason. Previously to Mr. New- man's death, the old Palace Hotel had been sold to Mrs. Newman's son, John O. McCallum, who enlarged the hotel, of which he is still proprietor.
By her first marriage, to Mr. McCallum, Mrs. Newman had eight children: William J., deceased; Ellen, Mrs. Henning, of Willows; John Arthur, deceased in infancy; Georgianna, de- ceased; Christene, Mrs. W. D. Davis, of San Francisco; Duncan C., court stenographer at Oroville; John O., proprietor of the Palace Hotel; and George, who resides with his mother. By her marriage to Mr. Mee, she had one child, Frances, the wife of F. W. Sydell, D. D. S., of Chico. Mrs. Newman devotes her time to looking after her varied interests. She owns the Newman block, and other valuable business and residence property in Willows, as well as her residence at 158 Twenty-seventh Street, in San Fran- cisco. In 1915 she built the Tenney and Schmidt Garage, on the corner of Tehama and Wood Streets, the finest and largest garage in Willows. Mrs. Newman was reared in the Presbyterian Church, and still adheres to that faith. In national politics, she is a Republican.
G. Dr. Snowden.
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GEORGE WASHINGTON SNOWDEN
One of the most extensive grain farmers in Glenn County, a man of such established and recognized business ability, honesty and integrity that his advice was widely sought and generally fol- lowed, and whose spoken word was considered as good as his bond, was George W. Snowden, a native of Scott County, Ill., where he was born near Naples, February 17, 1856. His father was John P. Snowden, a Virginian, who emigrated to the Middle West in early days, and became a successful farmer in Illinois. In 1867, he moved still further west into Missouri, and there engaged in farming amid the fertile acres in Henry County. Still later he returned to Illinois and located in Macoupin County; and there, in the fall of 1902, he died. George's mother had been Miss Sarah A. Mills, a native of Scott County; and she became the mother of eleven children, seven of whom were girls.
The second oldest of the four sons, George received a good education at the district schools in his native county, and early began to farm with his father in Henry County, Mo. In 1877, he came to California and located near Durham, Butte County, where he went to work on a farm. His vigorous constitution and his aptness in taking hold of the work, easily secured for him other and more remunerative employment near Gridley. In 1879, he worked for a time on the Glenn ranch, and then went to Eureka, Nev., where he followed mining. When he returned to California, he was appointed foreman of one of the Glenn ranches.
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